`Batman' Sets Box-Office Record / Biggest weekend opening in history

MICK LaSALLE, Chronicle Staff Critic

Published 4:00 am, Monday, June 19, 1995

'Batman Forever" earned a staggering $53.3 million at the box office over the weekend, according to industry projections. It takes the box-office record away from "Jurassic Park," which opened two years ago with a $50.2 weekend gross -- breaking the previous record set by "Batman Returns."

So it looks like "Batman Forever" is a hit, folks.

For that matter, so is "Congo," the Michael Crichton jungle-bungle, which continued to bring in big numbers despite merciless reviews and horrid word-of-mouth. It earned an estimated $10.2 over the weekend.

"Casper" hung in there for third place at $7 million, while "The Bridges of Madison County" showed a dropping off of momentum, with $6.7 million for a fourth- place finish.

Still, expect "Bridges" to hang around the charts for a long time. In the midst of all the blockbuster summer fare, there is nothing else like "Bridges" out there right now, and the word-of-mouth on the film is good.

Speaking of good word-of- mouth, one of the surprises of the summer is the staying power of "Braveheart," Mel Gibson's bad-hair medieval epic. Despite its three-hour length, the film came in fifth at the weekend box office, with a total of $4.1 million -- ahead of the blockbusters "Die Hard" ($3.8 million) and "Crimson Tide" ($3.4 million).

It seems that if people wanted to see action over the weekend weekend, they went to see "Batman Forever" or "Congo." But there was only one place to see Mel in a skirt, and that was "Braveheart."

A SNEAK PREVIEW

"Pocahontas" will open wide next weekend and could very likely take the top spot from the caped crusader. Last weekend it went into limited release in six cities, and just on the receipts from eight theater screens, managed to bring in an estimated $2.7 million -- for an eighth-place showing.

"Forget Paris," the Billy Crystal romance in which the comedian woos and annoys Debra Winger in several cities over two continents, continues to live -- at ninth place with a $1.7 million take. But it will be going away soon, I promise.

"While You Were Sleeping," the season's romantic comedy hit, is in the 10th spot, with $1.6 million.

"Mad Love" and "Johnny Mnemonic," the season's biggest losers at the box office, fell out of the top 10 altogether last week, only a couple of weeks into release.